Shakespeare - a modern psychologist

Miranda's Sleep

The lovers of Mozart's music have noticed perhaps, in a recitative of the opera Cosi fan tutte , a strange reference praising a "magnetic stone" and mentioning a certain Mesmer. The curious who are interested in the French cultural atmosphere of the period of ebullition preceding the 1789 Revolution have come perhaps across an anonymous vulgar song in which the same reference is to be found, but aiming at a radically different effect: "Magnetism now has its back against the wall. / Faculty and Academy both / As one have stigmatized it. / Disgrace is now its only lot. / Its trial was as wise as it was legal, / So now if any spirit were so odd / As to keep on believing in such frenzy, / Then should you feel free to ridicule it: / 'You believe in magnetism. you animal!'" Those who love painting will find, in Marina Vaizey's essay on time's judgment , the following sentence referring to the painting The Execution of Lady Jane Grey , by Paul Delaroche: "It is a mesmerizing painting" - the barbarism meaning 'halucinating, with hypnotic qualities, emanating a fluid' etc. In fact, whoever is experienced in the English language, even if not in the visual arts as well, has come across this attribute - mesmerizing - in a great variety of contexts. Let us now proceed with explaining this series of quotations that have apparently no connection with our topic, but are linked together by a much celebrated (at its time) and equally contested theory - that of animal magnetism, discovered by Mesmer. We will see later that the details of the tumultuous history of hypnosis we present here are of the essence when it comes to weighing the glory of Shakespeare.

Franz Anton Mesmer was born in Iznang, on May 23 rd , 1734 . He studied Theology, Philosophy, Law, and Medicine, obtained two doctoral degrees, of which one was in the last of the mentioned sciences, and was concerned, until his death, with Geology, Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, and, especially, Music. This passion urged him to launch the child Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as a writer of operas. Hence, the composer paid him his due in undepreciating melodic currency, by devoting, as we have seen, a playful hymn to the extraordinary invention of his benefactor. What is the discovery that brought him such a lasting glory that still shines bright, after a quarter of a millenium?

Franz Anton Mesmer was the first man on Earth who proved that through personal contact, finger touching, massaging, staring, through his simple presence, his talking, or the music he played he was able to cure any neurotic state, even blindness (suspected to have occurred at birth), if it actually had such an origin. On November 28 th , 1755, the healings never-heard-of that he achieved by submitting his pacients to the action of metalic magnets - for this is how this thaumaturge started his carreer - were recognized and officially rewarded: the top scientific community, the High Academy of Bavaria , accepted him as one of its members. Well, it was the very moment when Mesmer, always discontent with himself, decided to contest what he had maintained that far and threw away the magnets, stating that the healings were achieved not by those, but by his own animal magnetism; hence, the new word of the day was the magnetizer, instead of the magnet. Mesmer conquered Vienna . There, a would-be love intrigue with the blind pianist Paradies - who, upon recovering her eyesight, refused to leave his dwelling-place - turned Mesmer into a victim of Empress Maria-Theresa's police-enforced regime. Miss Paradies lost her eyesight again, following the brutal pressure she was submitted to by her family, so her doctor was summoned before the much-dreaded Moral Conduct Commission and expelled from the Austrian territory, as a vicious and undesirable alien.

Paris was the cradle of his true celebrity, as popularized by Mozart, but also of his downfall. Suffice it to say that, at the highest of his glory, Mesmer turned down a life annuity of twenty thousand pounds Minister Maurepas offered him. Why? - if we may ask. Out of his stubborn desire to submit his treatment to the experimentation of the scientists who would not take him seriously, so that it may be put at the disposal of mankind through the recognized channels of competence, the golden channels of the French Academy and of the Doctors' Association. He went so far as to apply in writing to King Louis XVI. Since he did not receive the answer he expected, Mesmer put his threats into practice and returned to Germany . He was brought back thence by a crowd of enthousiastic and devoted supporters, at their expenses. They also set up the Society of Harmony, with branches in Bordeaux , Lyon , Strasbourg , and even Ostende. La Fayette proved to be the most enthousiastic among his pupils: he even wrote a letter to inform George Washington of the wonders performed in France . A writer named Radet tried his hand at writing a comedy in which he mocked Mesmer. The audience of the first night was made entirely of butlers who had been provided by their masters with both tickets and whistles; we may only guess as to what these were used for. The author Radet faded into anonimity after that November 16 th , 1784 , failure.

Finally, in March the same year, the French Academy and the Doctors' Association were ordered by the King to set up a Commission for the official investigation of mesmerism, since it was so insistently demanded by the doctor who was confused by his gift and would have handed down his means of healing to every practitioner. Members of the Commission were men as highly renowned then as they are today: doctor Guillotin, electricity researcher Benjamin Franklin, astronomer Bailly, chemist Lavoisier and botanist Jussien. The Commission's conclusions were absolutely discouraging, denying both the existence of any such thing as animal magnetism, and the positive results of the treatment. Jussien refused to sign these conclusions.

Since the mesmerists' school would also "magnetize" trees that were supposed to "accumulate" animal magnetism and pass it on to the pacients who leaned against them, Benjamin Franklin could not refrain himself from playing a practical joke. He told several peasants that a certain tree was magnetized. The sick stood under the tree and stated, after the "session", that they had been healed. Thus the academic standpoint triumphed, that maintained that it was the pacients' imagination that caused the healing. The practical joke was repeated in England when Elliotson, Mesmer's supporter, bragged that he could magnetize coins that, if applied onto the painful spot, would bring about healing. The editors of the periodical Lancet repeated Franklin 's experiment, with similar results - hence, with similar conclusions. Elliotson enriched his theory, by mixing it up with phrenology. In his magazine - The Phreno-Magnet -, he maintained that by touching the human skull with his fingertips at certain specific spots and by locating various psychic centres, he could activate them. The English surgeon Braid described such a session held in 1841, with the subject being a young woman. He claimed that upon touching her centre of closeness and friendship, she had embraced him; then, after he had stimulated her centre of aggressiveness on the other side of her head, the woman had punched two gentlemen with her opposite arm, assuming that they were attacking the experimenter; she had hit them so hard that they were almost knocked down; with her free hand, however, she had never stopped holding him in a most friendly manner .

The Royal Commission that examined Mesmer's activity and especially Benjamin Franklin manifested themselves in the most genuine enlightened spirit, carrying on the humanists' traditional skepticism. Montaigne had written, for instance, in the 15 th century, that the credit one gives to miracles, visions, sorceries and other such extraordinary stuff presumably springs from man's power of imagination and acts mostly upon the souls of the commoners who put up a weaker resistance. Their faith is so deeply entangled, that they believe to have seen things that are not actually there and a mere glimpse of the medicine proves enough to cure them.

This last statement contains a truth that has turned the theory of animal magnetism into a mendacious source of a genuine medical technique and several important psychological discoveries. "It is obvious that, from the beginnings of medicine, the suffering people have been cured through suggestion far more often than they suspected and than therapists were willing to admit". The tragedy of Franz Anton Mesmer consisted in his practising of hypnosis without realizing what he was doing. Although he paved the way towards a new field of psychological research and curative medicine, Mesmer could not explain (or tried to ineptly, as were the spectacular props he kept around him, like a physician descended from the Middle Ages) the true relationship between one psychic and another and the true nature of the illnesses he cured, let alone what was going on around his most celebrated baquet (tub). His disciple, Count Maxime de Puységur, discovered the phenomenon of the artificial hypnotic state only a few months after the brutal verdict passed against his master and published an Account of the healings achieved at Bayonne through animal magnetism, addressed to the Master Abbot of Poulauzet, clerical counsel, at the Bordeaux parliament, 1884 . While he was trying to cure several peasants, one of those fell asleep, yet went on accomplishing various orders he was given and could not be awaken in any way except by command.

Bertrand developed the theory of hypnotic suggestion. Braid gave up his Elliotson-influenced theories, adopted it and laid it down. Hence, at mid-19 th century, the phenomena of hypnosis and hypnotic suggestion acquired a scientific basis, were recognized and embraced by an ever-increasing number of doctors. An addition to them were the lectures delivered by Doctor Esdaile, who had practised surgery in Ceylon and had been initiated by the natives in the centuries-old Indian tradition of hypnotic anaesthesia, a technique he himself was using during the operations he performed on hundreds and hundreds of patients. In 1886, Doctor Liébeault from Nancy, together with his disciple Bernheim, published a book entitled About Sleep and Its Analogous States , in which he gave full support to Braid's opinions, confirming man's capacity to induce certain ideas in his fellow human beings. He also described the way in which fits of hysteria could be induced to subjects by using hypnosis, but it did not cross his mind to give the same explanation to what was going on around the magnetic tub (which would have cleaned Mesmer's memory and honour and would have done away with his undeserved reputation of having been a humbug and a charlatan). Liébeault also demonstrated that he could induce temporary blindness - another matter that should have been tackled in connection with Mesmer's activity and with his misadventures involving young Paradies. The existence of the Nancy School was carried on by the New Nancy School that discovered self-suggestion. A pharmacist, Coué, was the latter's most prominent representative, who delivered a memorable lecture in Chaumont, in 1912, entitled "Achieving self-control by conscious self-suggestion". In the meantime, in Paris, Charcot had begun his famous achievements in curing hysteria. Writer Axel Munthe counted among his well-known disciples. According to Gardner Murphy , one century after Mesmer's arrival in Paris, the hypnotic technique became an essential method of treatment for the greatest neurologist in the French City of Lights.

It is obvious from this brief survey of the beginnings of hypnosis and hypnotic suggestion in Europe that they were associated to Mesmer's magnets for lack of any better explanation. Only later, after obtaining the people's recognition and awareness, were they granted an existence based upon scientific criteria that every history of medicine or psychology agrees with.

We may wonder, however, whether the origins of such research should not be traced much earlier (they have indeed been mentioned as such and attributed to the earliest ages in the historical development of mankind, but we are interested here in proof, not in inference). Let us focus on The Tempest , which is supposed to have been written between 1600 and 1612.

Here we are in front of the cave in which the overthrown Prospero and his daughter Miranda have been living for ever so long. The father has just told the girl the circumstances in which he lost his duchy and how the both of them were stranded to this no-man's island. But fairy tales, be they actually true, do not fit his nature. He is born a master: yesterday he had a country; today, matter itself and its laws are at his disposal. Moreover, the time has come for him to work out the full measure of his knowledge in order to free himself and Miranda from the bondage of this joyless island of exile. Hence, he tells her: "PROSPERO: [.] Here cease more questions: thou art inclined to sleep; 'tis a good dulness, and give it way: I know thou canst not choose (MIRANDA sleeps)" ( The Tempest - Act I, Scene II). Could a hypnotizer speak more proper words to his medium before putting him or her to sleep? For those who may find the explanation in brackets insufficient (and wonder "How come? She sleeps - just like that?"), here is the description given by the great Wundt: "The lower degrees of hypnosis supply the best analogy to the state of somnolence that may sometimes be noticed during the transition from watchfulness to normal sleep, especially before the subject fully wakes up from a deep sleep". Prospero says "a good dulness", meaning a pleasant one. It is not difficult to recognized the very state described by Wundt. Hence, Shakespeare has his readers witness a classical falling into hypnotic sleep.

Wundt goes on to say that "suggesting illusions and hallucinations is the most surprising symptom of the hypnotic state. The illusions take over from even the lowest stage. The hypnobate retreats displaying all the signs of fear when suggested that a mad dog is drawing near" ( ibidem ). The literary demonstration of the theory is being supplied in the same scene. Prospero addresses Caliban who has cursed him: "PROSPERO: For this, be sure, to-night thou shalt have cramps, side-stitches that shall pen thy breath up; urchins shall, for that vast of night that they may work, all exercise on thee; thou shalt be pinch'd as thick as honeycomb, each pinch more stinging than bees that made 'em " ( The Tempest - Act I, Scene II). In his turn, Caliban explains his newly acquired friends brought over by the tempestuous waves: "CALIBAN: [.] .the isle is full of noises, sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not. Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices that, if I then had waked after long sleep, will make me sleep again: and then, in dreaming, the clouds methought would open and show riches ready to drop upon me that, when I waked, I cried to dream again " ( The Tempest - Act III, Scene II). This last fragment could obviously be interpreted as a description of what the character feels when submitted to Prospero's magical skills (one should remember the latter's dealings with Ariel, his domination over all spirits, his victory over the monster bearer, Sycorax the witch, his power of commanding the elements of nature, plus the props at hand, his mantle and wand - everything speaks for Prospero's intense activity as a magician. A comparison between this fairy play and the magical prowesses known to have occurred in England at the time of the Renaissance would be of the essence if we were to update our knowledge of Shakespeare's readings and tastes. But the former duke's threats are not actually threats, but assurances; commands, even, since he says: ". be sure, to-night thou shalt have cramps etc.." Caliban complains that every now and then strange noises frighten him or soft tunes lull him to sleep, yet mentions neither spirits, nor magic, but power and obedience: "CALIBAN: [.] (Aside) I must obey: his art is of such power. " ( The Tempest - Act I, Scene II). If what he describes to Stephano and Trinculo were the result of magic, it would imply too much effort for this unfortunate primitive man so easy to manipulate as sees a wretched drunkard as a god. No - Caliban's hallucinations are the result of hypnosis, of telepathy, of suggestion. The above-mentioned Nancy School dealt with such phenomena. Gardner Murphy says that to Liébeault and his disciple Bernheim suggestion was a mere name for the process by which the pacient accepts such new ideas as may lead him or her to new beliefs, attitudes or behaviours: for instance, whoever has suffered a railway accident may easily be made to believe, through suggestion, that that person's legs are injured; this suggestion may come from another person or even from associations taking place in the subject's mind alone. Wundt offers additional explanations that throw light upon Caliban's state: very often, such self-suggestion takes place spontaneously, either as an effect of imitation, or because an order given during an earlier hypnotic sleep remains effective, in which case self-suggestion can once again be reduced indirectly to an alien suggestion, while preserving tight links to the post-hypnotic effects.

The English playwright also describes self-suggestion. Let us look closer into his definition of it. Prospero says about his brother, the uzurper: " PROSPERO: [.] .like one who having into truth, by telling of it, made such a sinner of his memory, to credit his own lie, he did believe he was indeed the duke, out o' the substitution. " ( The Tempest - Act I, Scene II). At the Nancy School , the term 'self-suggestion' marked an upheaval against the all-incumbent belief in the existence of a connection between hypnotizer and patient and stressed the fact that any suggestion is actually thrusted by the patient upon himself. There is, however, proof, as we have seen, that the theory of an idea becoming mechanical by means of verbal repetition, so fashionable in the early 20 th century, was expressed poetically, in The Tempest , in the early 17 th century, therefore three centuries earlier.

Shakespeare's Tempest hence describes hypnotic sleep and the phenomenon of self-suggestion, together with the posthypnotic effects associated to the latter. It goes without saying that Shakespeare was no hypnotizer, but he understood these psychical phenomena as if he had actually been one. It follows that he had the opportunity, through his readings or by witnessing some experimentation, to learn about them in depth and to grasp their meaning with a modern, scientific open-mindedness, without any trace of superstition in a domain that can lend itself so easily to fantastic interpretations. Moreover, when he staged them before the Elizabethan public, he must have been certain that the audiences could follow his message. Shakespeare was no hermetic, no withdrawn writer either; on the contrary, he was very popular. We may hence infer that the phenomena we are talking about were well-known to all social strata. (Besides, their presentation in the play is not in the least melodramatic, nor does it trigger any special scenic effect; on the contrary, they go almost unnoticed. Howard W. Haggard wrote, in 1929, that hypnotism was still maintained as a circumstantial practice in the treatment of drug-addiction and neurotic disorders, as well as in the representation of vaudevilles. How could one fail to notice the final sarcasm and the type of shows in which one could expect to see a display of hypnotism?

It is time to phrase a question that follows naturally. Has the history of psychology and medicine looked deep enough, in the abyss of time, for the origins of hypnosis? Hypnosis did not appear in any particular age. It is the result of a natural property, of a psychical ability that has been there ever since man walked upon the face of the Earth. It is its explaining that took so long and, if so, this chapter should come as a sufficient argument for a historian to focus his or her researches at least on the age of Renaissance.

This is the text we are talking about: "This magnetic stone / Bear testimony to you. / It was once used by Mesmer / Whose native place was somewhere / In the countryparts of Germany / But he would become famous in France " ( apud S tefan Zweig, Healing Through Spirit. Mesmer, Mary Baker-Eddy , transl. by Eugen Relgis; Sigmund Freud , transl. by Stefan Freamat, Vatra Publishing House, /no date/, p. 30.

Sunday Times , December 28 th , 1975 .

Braid, Neuropnology , 1843, pp. 135-136.

Michel de Montaigne, op.cit. , I, 21, pp. 108, 113.

S tefan Zweig, op.cit. , p. 43.

Gardner Murphy, A Historical Introduction to Modern Psychology , New York, Harcourt, Brace & Co., London, Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., 1929.

Wilhelm Wundt, op.cit.

Gardner Murphy, op.cit .

Wilhelm Wundt, op.cit.

We were pleased to learn that an expert, Dr. Alexandru Olaru, was likewise interested in this play, based upon similar researches. He wrote: "Hypnotic sleep is also being described therein and the scientific description is all the more valuable as it is expressed in terms available to many: 'SEBASTIAN: [.] This is a strange repose, to be asleep with eyes wide open; standing, speaking, moving, and yet so fast asleep ' [ The Tempest - Act II, Scene I]. ( Shakespeare and Dramatic Psychiatry , Craiova, "Scrisul Românesc" Publishing House, 1976, p. 339).

Howard W. Haggard, Devils, Drugs & Doctors. The Story of the Science of Healing from Medicine-Man to Doctor , New York, Pocket Books, Inc., Rockefeller Center, 1929, p. 322.



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